Orlando Magic White’s scrappy bunch just keeps winning
The Orlando Magic White team was supposed to the be the ‘B’ squad for the Magic again. For the second straight year, they are the best team in Summer League.
The Orlando Summer League lacked a lot of sizzle this year. There were few first round picks from last year’s draft among the 10 teams that arrived in Central Florida earlier this week. It is easy for Summer League games to become the same with turnovers, fouls and just generally bad basketball.
The best way to get noticed at Summer League is not to put up crazy offensive numbers or be the team’s leading scorer. Someone has to do that and, with rare exception, that is not the role they would play if they were to crack a NBA roster.
What gets noticed at Summer League is effort and attention to detail. Doing the hard-to-quantify little things and staying engaged in games that oftentimes can be ugly and lack the appeal even low-level regular season games can have.
It is plays like the one that happened in the middle of the fourth quarter. Former Florida Gator Michael Frazier turned the ball over at mid court and gave up a runout. Except he did not give up on the play. He chased Chasson Randle and blocked the layup.
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Veteran point guard Justin Dentmon, who has spent much of his professional basketball career bouncing around several different leagues before ending up in China last year, dove out of bounds to save the ball to Nnanna Egwu, trailing the play. Egwu then saved it back to Dentmon.
What happened next is not nearly as important as that moment alone. The effort and energy shown to get after a loose ball in a game with relatively no meaning was all the team needed to see.
But do not tell that to the team on the floor. The bench is standing and cheering on every play. There is nothing more important than these games for this hungry bunch of players.
“That’s why we’re 3-0,” Frazier said. “We don’t really care who scores. We want to win and it shows.
“The main thing is winning. What can I do to help my team win. Collectively as a group, we don’t care who scores, we’ve just got to get the job done. All in all, that’s what is most important.”
Wins are not everything, but they sure help getting players some notice. Making solid plays, making hustle plays do too. Those typically add to victories and that helps players get noticed.
Quickly this team has shown its scrappiness and ability to come together and chase that important goal.
And with a team without any draft picks and without any players who have played a ton in the NBA, guys who are scratching and clawing on the fringes, they have played like they have nothing to lose together. Even when things get bad.
For the second straight year, the Orlando Magic White team, a team full of D-Leaguers and cast-offs (not even), is running the table through Orlando Summer League following a 95-90 win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday at Amway Center.
“The way basketball is being played, it sometimes helps if you had slightly lesser talented players because they have to work together,” assistant coach Nate Babcock said. “And we keep forgetting basketball is a team game. The whole has to be better than the sum of their parts. They have to make each other better.”
The White team has balance that the Magic’s main roster team does not have. Dentmon, who scored 18 points on 6-for-10 shooting Wednesday, is 30 years old and has bounced around teams throughout the D-League before ending up with the Sichuan Tigers in China. Starting power forward Arinze Onuaku will be 29 next week. His physical presence is enough to knock back many of the players he is going up against.
Both veterans help calm the team down at various stages. It is not too surprising to see the team continue to play at a high level. Peterson has always done a good job getting his players motivate.
Last year’s Orlando Magic White team, led by D-League coach Bill Peterson, who is still sitting in the wings but giving his assistant coaches a chance in the lead chair this week, went to the championship game, losing in sudden death overtime to the Memphis Grizzlies.
There are few players holding over from that roster. The team has come together quickly and played a high level of basketball together to score victories. This version of the Magic might be one of the better teams at the Orlando Summer League in total.
“I think that’s one of the characteristics of this team,” said Patricio Garino, who scored 14 points in his final game with the team before flying to Argentina to train with the national team ahead of the 2016 Olympics. “We have a bunch of guys hungry to win. We are all aware we are fighting for a spot on a team. I think we give it all out there. We are very unselfish, we dive for loose balls.”
That attitude stands out more than anything else. The team helps the individual by playing for each other and playing at a high level as a team.
It has helped Dentmon stand out for his leadership from the point. It has helped Garino with his strong defensive instincts for a rookie. It has helped Egwu with his improved defensive discipline. It has helped Treveon Graham get through traffic and score, knowing he has players around him he is comfortable to pass to.
The Magic White team may be short on top-end talent. It may be short on future NBA players. But they are going to play hard and make their presence felt this week once again.
And ultimately what they are doing is more important than anything else and will help everyone else get noticed.
Next: Orlando Magic narrow D-League location to two
“First, second rounders, I don’t care,” Frazier said. “Winning is the most important thing. These organizations want people that win, that come from winning programs and are on winning teams period. That’s what we’re trying to do.”